Blogging platforms compared – Why is Bluehost the best web hosting

(This post contains affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure here.)

Hey there  blogger friend,

You are here because you must have thought of starting a blog but you are confused about what platform to choose from.

When you are starting a blog there are so many options to choose from. The Internet has grown by many folds in the past few years and so thus the companies which provide tools to bloggers. There are so many companies and organizations out there which provide blogging platforms either free or paid.

This post will help you choose the best option as per your blogging aims and dreams.

Free blogging platforms

There are blogging platforms which don’t charge you a dime for using their services, while some a few dollars as you go on using them.

There is a huge list of free blogging platforms available. I will list a few of the most famous ones here.

• Tumblr
• Blogger
• Blogspot
• Medium

Let’s see what are the pros of using a free blogging platform.

Pros of Free Blogging Platforms

1. They are FREE!. It means you don’t pay a single dime to use their services for a lifetime. Although a couple of blogging platforms do charge you for additional features like removing their ads from your website. (This does not mean you can put your own ads!. This is true for most of the free blogging platforms.)
2. Very simple to set up. This can be done in around 10 minutes. But this simplicity comes at a cost. Reading the cons of free blogging platforms to find out.

Cons of free blogging platforms

• Limited customizations – A fixed number of blog designs available to choose from. Also there is a very limited number of customizations you can make to your blog.
• You operate on company’s terms and conditions – Your growth is limited on these platforms as you will have to operate on their terms and conditions.
• You don’t own the domain name – You don’t get your own domain name. Your domain name will have the platform’s name in it. While some of the free platforms do provide a service to buy your own domain name and use that instead but you will be still operating under the company’s terms and conditions.
• You are not seen as a professional blogger – Most of the brands and companies will not associate with you as you are not seen professional enough. (Does not matter how good are your posts.) This is because of the terms and conditions of the hosting provider.
• Cant make money – You can not earn any money by advertisement as you don’t have any way to do so. On the other hand, your hosting provider will be running ads on your blog posts which you can not control. Also, you won’t be able to do affiliate marketing as the affiliate providers will rarely run their campaigns on a free blog.
• Slow websites – The websites built on these free platforms are generally very slow. You will never want your blog to load slowly. Also, slow websites are penalized by Google and other search engines. Plus it’s not a great experience for your readers as well.

Self-hosted blogging platforms

Self-hosted blogging platforms mean you will be using an open source or paid software on a hosting for which you will be paying as you go.

An example of this is wordpress.org (NOT wordpress.com) on Bluehost.

There are a number of open source free to use blogging software out there. The most widely used and the most popular is wordpress.org. About 60% or more of websites in the world runs on WordPress! It is that famous.

Again coming to hosting wordpress.org, there are a number of companies which provide this option to you. A few are Bluehost, Hostgator and Siteground. You pay a monthly charge to use their hosting service. This charge is very minimal. Bluehost is the most popular among bloggers, which charges you $3.95 per month (only when you register with my this special link) to host your blog.

Pros of self-hosting

1. Complete freedom – You get the complete freedom to run your blog the way you want to. You do not abide by any terms or conditions of any hosting provider company.
2. You are the real owner of your blog – You own everything, your domain name, your content, your readers and your email list.
3. Make money from ads – You can run your own ads. This means you are not wasting the traffic that you get on your blog. You are giving your readers the best experience and still make money from ads.
4. Make money from brands and affiliates – You are professional now. Brands and companies will contact you for their product affiliate product marketing. You get paid a commission for every sale you make from your blog.

If you are serious about blogging and making money from your blog, then self-hosting is the way to go.

Why Bluehost?

I have been using Bluehost for hosting my websites. Bluehost is the most trusted and widely used hosting provider in the world.

• Its cheap – I am sure you want to start your blogging journey without spending a lot of money. Bluehost is the best option for you. It’s just $3.95 per month  (only when you register with my this special link) and you get a free domain name as well.
• Free domain name – Yes you get a free domain name on Bluehost if you register for their 12 months plan. (highly recommended)
• Cancel anytime – If you are not satisfied with Bluehost, then you can cancel it anytime. No questions asked. You get a full refund of your amount. This is a win-win for you.
• Best customer support – Bluehost has the excellent customer support in the world as far as hosting services go. I had a very great experience with Bluehost.

Now its time for you to start your blogging journey. Firstly go ahead and use this link to register for Bluehost if you haven’t.

Once you register on Bluehost, you can use this step by step guide to setup your blog.